(If) you behave unjustly, you are damned: the Pen has dried (on that). If you show justice, you eat the fruit (of blessedness): the Pen has dried (on that).
چون بدزدد دست شد جف القلم ** خورد باده مست شد جف القلم 3135
When he (any one) steals, his hand goes: the Pen has dried (on that). (When) he drinks wine, he becomes intoxicated: the Pen has dried (on that).
تو روا داری روا باشد که حق ** هم‌چو معزول آید از حکم سبق
Do you deem it allowable, can it be allowable, that on account of the (eternally) prior decree God should come, like a person dismissed from office,
که ز دست من برون رفتست کار ** پیش من چندین میا چندین مزار
Saying, ‘The affair has gone out of My hands: do not approach Me so often, do not entreat (Me) so much’?
بلک معنی آن بود جف القلم ** نیست یکسان پیش من عدل و ستم
Nay, the meaning is: ‘the Pen has dried (on this that) justice and injustice are not equal in My sight.
فرق بنهادم میان خیر و شر ** فرق بنهادم ز بد هم از بتر
I have laid down a distinction between good and evil; I have also laid down a distinction between the bad and the worse.’
ذره‌ای گر در تو افزونی ادب ** باشد از یارت بداند فضل رب 3140
If there be in you a single mote of self-discipline in excess of (that of) your companion, the grace of God will know,
قدر آن ذره ترا افزون دهد ** ذره چون کوهی قدم بیرون نهد
And will bestow on you that mote's amount of superiority: the mote will step forth as (big as) a mountain (to meet you).
پادشاهی که به پیش تخت او ** فرق نبود از امین و ظلم‌جو
A king before whose throne there is no distinction between the faithful (friend) and the seeker of iniquity—
آنک می‌لرزد ز بیم رد او ** وانک طعنه می‌زند در جد او
Between him who trembles in fear of his (the king's) disapproval and him who intrigues against his fortune (empire)—